Whanganui iwi blasts Govt over bowel screening age change for Māori

The eligible age for free bowel screening has been changed to 58 for all New Zealanders.

An iwi-led health organisation in Whanganui claims the Government’s planned changes to bowel screening is “politics playing with the lives” of Māori.

The Government last week announced it was moving to a universal bowel screening age of 58.

The shift will end the phased rollout of free screening for Māori and Pasifika from age 50, compared to 60 for non-Māori.

Health Minister Simeon Brown revealed the change would be made possible by redirecting funding set aside to lower the age for Māori and Pacific people.

Health Minister Simeon Brown. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Brown said lowering the screening age for all New Zealanders was expected to save more lives than having a lower age for Māori and Pasifika only.

Te Oranganui Trust believed the move would cause Māori deaths and criticised it as a huge backward step in a health area that should be prioritised.

“This is purely politics playing with the lives of our people,” Te Oranganui chief executive Wheturangi Walsh Tapiata said.

She called lowering the eligibility age a “step in the right direction” but believed the blanket approach was about the “optics of equality for all”.

Te Oranganui chief executive Wheturangi Walsh Tapiata.

“Which does absolutely nothing to address the real need for a lower screening age for Māori.”

Hei Āhuru Mōwai Māori Cancer Leadership Aotearoa reported most Māori diagnosed with bowel cancer were younger than 60, and most non-Māori were over 60 when diagnosed.

Walsh Tapiata said the removal of free screening for Māori younger than 58 was unacceptable and went against the reality of what they faced.

“The Government is literally holding people’s lives in their hands.”

The trust spent three years advocating for the rollout to reach Manawatū-Whanganui before it was canned last December.

Walsh Tapiata said the shift wasted the efforts of advocates like Esther Tinirau (Ngāti Ruaka), who was diagnosed with stage-four bowel cancer in 2016 and died in 2021, and Hāwera bowel cancer patient Archie Hurunui, who before his death in 2021 said he wanted the age for Māori lowered to 35.

“To see all this work undone, to imagine the unnecessary loss of life as a result of this move is heartbreaking.”

The trust wants the Government to reconsider its plans and ensure free, early invention remained an option for Māori.

Brown said expanding eligibility for free bowel cancer screening tests would ultimately save lives.

He claimed the changes were forecast to prevent an additional 771 bowel cancers and 566 bowel cancer deaths over the next 25 years.

“Advice from the Ministry of Health clearly states that lowering the age to 58 for all New Zealanders will save even more lives than the previous Government’s approach to lower the age to 50 for Māori and Pacific peoples only.”

Brown said 122,000 Kiwis would eligible for free tests in the first year after the age change.

But Bowel Cancer NZ chief executive Peter Huskinson said more than 100,000 Māori and Pasifika, who were set to gain access from age 50, were now excluded, “marking a step backwards for health equity”.